Lifestyle

When people start thinking seriously about retiring abroad, the questions tend to come in a fairly predictable order. How much does it cost to live there? Can I get a retirement visa? What is the healthcare like? Can foreigners buy property? How much tax will I pay? They are all perfectly sensible questions. In fact, you would be unwise not to ask them…

There is a word I have been thinking about lately: margin. Years ago, when I was teaching first graders how to write, I remember pointing out the faint margin lines running down both sides of their copybooks. “See these lines?” I would say. “Your writing begins here on the left, and it stops here on the right. You don’t write all the way to the edge.”

It was dinner time, and I had barely anything in my refrigerator. I was hungry but didn’t have a clue what to make. I decided to see if AI could help. I started typing. “I need an easy recipe using cabbage, onions, and a few eggs. And I have some spices.” That was all I typed. AI gave me the most amazing baked cabbage recipe…

While sorting through my inbox, I came across one email with the subject line “Loving Life with Less.” Given my interest in downsizing, I was very excited to read it. Yes! I thought. That’s exactly the goal…

At 90, I have discovered something rather amusing about getting older: the calendar insists I am old, but most days I don’t feel particularly interested in cooperating with it. I believe one reason is simple: I nearly always have something to look forward to. It may be a book I am working on…

In the two years before I retired, I put “write myself a job description for my retirement” on a list. Retirement, for those keeping score, is the part where you don’t have a job. The list lived on my phone, in a note called Elaine’s Retirement. It had 14 sections, because apparently my retirement required the same scope as my 1994 dissertation. Spiritual, Hobbies, Creativity…

Growing into my wisdom each year, I have noticed the desire for ease and simplicity. It wasn’t always like this. I spent many years wasting my energy and time worrying about things that I couldn’t control and really didn’t matter…

Whether you’re soaring through the skies, cruising on a train, or navigating winding roads, there are a few things that can make a huge difference in your traveling comfort. One trusty travel companion that will keep you cozy and refreshed…

I’m a horror movie fan, so when the new Insidious movie came out this weekend, I decided to do something I hadn’t done in a long time. I went to a movie theater. And I was genuinely excited. Not just interested or casually looking forward to it. I was excited like a little kid. I got my popcorn, found my seat, settled in, and for a moment, I realized just how much this simple experience meant to me…

As a full-time caregiver, it’s not that easy to slip away for a vacation or even slip out of the house for an hour or two but I have found I can take frequent breaks throughout the day to a lovely little inn on the Washington coast. Just a few quiet moments to smell the salty air and hear the seagulls arguing over who got the biggest crumb from a discarded…